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Valve has made major updates to the gameplay to keep it fresh and new. The first thing you'll notice that's different is the new cast of characters. The new survivors are Coach, who is a high-school football coach; Ellis, a southern mechanic; Rochelle, a local news station reporter; and Nick, a gambling conman.

Not only is there a new cast of characters, but a new cast of special infected as well. Left 4 Dead 2 will feature several new special infected as well as including the old special infected from the original Left 4 Dead. In the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo, only three of the several new special infected were revealed. The three new Special infected variants include the Charger, a tank with one arm significantly larger then the other with the ability of tackling a player and then grabbing him and slamming him to the ground repeatedly causing major damage; The Spitter, which vomits pools of acid that diminishes your health if you stand in it; and the Jocky, which has the ability to jump on a player's shoulders and take control of them causing them to run into hordes of zombies and traps.

Another notable addition to the game is that the player now has the option of having a melee weapon in the place of the pistol. The melee weapons range from frying pans, to guitars, to chainsaws. Melee weapons can also be found anywhere in the enviornments, not just at weapon spawn points. For example, If you are passing through a restaurant, take a look in the kitchen; There will always be a frying pan or two.

There are four different game modes in Left 4 Dead 2. Three of the modes have been carried over from the previous game with one new mode exclusive to Left 4 Dead 2. The modes are Campaign, Survival, Versus, and Scavenge. Campaign is the single player story mode. Survival is where the players try to survive for as long as possible against a never-ending zombie horde. Versus is where the players take control of the special infected to stop the survivors from reaching the safe room. Scavenge is an eight player multiplayer mode where four player controlled survivors must obtain sixteen gas canisters that are scattered throughout a level, and four player controlled special infected must try to stop them.

The graphics have been vastly improved. This game looks like it's taking full advantage of the Xbox 360's hardware. The graphics of the first Left 4 Dead were criticized because it looked as if it were a last generation console game that could be played on the original Xbox. This time around, Characters look like they have a higher polygon count with more fluid animation and the playable demo level, The Parish, displayed great use of light sourcing and shadow rendering as well as an astoundingly high number of zombies on-screen at once.

There is a playable demo of Left 4 Dead 2 that was released to the public on October 27, 2009 on Steam and Xbox Live. This demo is multiplayer only and features the first half of the level "The Parish". The demo servers will remain up until the game's release on November 17, 2009.

-Addison Gumprecht-

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